Muar Chee

One of the popular sweet snacks found in Penang and other places in Malaysia, muar chee are often sold by roadside stalls or mobile hawkers. The set up is pretty simple: steamed glutinous rice paste and ground peanut mixture in a container. When you order it, the vendor would cut a small piece of glutinous rice paste using a special Muar Chee cutting knife, transfer it into the ground peanut mixture, dice the muar chee paste into small cubes and then coat them with the peanut and sugar. You can top Muar Chee with some fried shallots, but it’s optional. A small pack of Muar Chee costs only RM1 but it’s so tasty and satisfying that I could have them every day as a dessert…

Last weekend, I got myself a pack of glutinous rice and made Muar Chee at home. Surprisingly, it was quite easy to make. As I don’t have a Muar Chee recipe, I had to guess and figure out the basic steps. The Muar Chee turned out very well and looked and tasted almost the same compared to the real ones. The only thing missing was pork lard, I think.

Here is my Muar Chee recipe. Try making it at home, it’s really a wonderful treat. If you wish to try other Malaysian recipes, please check out my huge collection of Malaysian recipes.

This is by far my favourite dish when I visit Penang. I usually get it from Gurney Drive. Thanks for the recipe. I’m a Malaysian in London and this is probably one of those food you can’t get it here. Will attempt to make it this weekend. Thanks again for the recipe.

Same! We go on holidays to Malaysia to visit my relatives, but we also drive to Penang. We went a week ago and bought Maur Chee from the woman in Gurney drive but only went twice as if you have gone recently Penang has fot really crowded and traffic is everywhere. Anyway, good recipe, can’t wait to try and re-make it!

thanks for this recipe, RM. i’m filipino and it’s very similar to a popular filipino dessert that we call “palitaw” (http://www.pinoycook.net/palitaw/), except we use grated coconut instead of peanuts. anyway, i’ve never had muar chee but i made it yesterday after reading your blog and i loved it! my husband couldn’t stop eating it. THANKS AGAIN!

I wonder if the name “muar chee” has its roots in the Japanese “mochi”. I’m living in Japan, and the last time I went back to Malaysia, I brought back some mochi as souvenirs for my relatives to try. My uncle and auntie who lives in Penang, after trying some mochi, told me that it was just like the Penang muar chee. It was one of the things they bought for me to try when I was in Penang, and it is very similar to mochi. Yum :9

Hi RM, we made some muar chee ourselves after looking at your website. WE have no tapioca flour, so we substituted it with corn flour. On top of the groundnuts and dried shallots, we added a teaspoon of melted peanut butter to give it a twist. Taste really good and chewy..

We will probably make some glutinous rice ball in ginger soup ‘tong yuen’ with the leftover glutinous flour we have. THanks and keep posting good recipes!

Lovely blog you have here. I have a question about your Muar Chee recipe. We have the same thing in Taiwan and I usually made it without tapioca flour. Is there a particular reason for adding it? Does it made the dough softer? It’s one of my favorite snacks and your version looks very interesting.

I love your recipes. Have tried the Teriyaki chicken and it tasted so much better than the bottled ones :) Also tried the chicken wings flour-ing concept and it was awesome! Thanks for your generosity :) Will be trying this muah chee within this few days! Anyway do you happen to know the recipe for ‘butterfly’? Similar to ham ji pang but the sweeter and top layer coated with sesame seeds.

Thank you so much for sharing the recipe. Muar Chee is my favourite dessert dish. I’m from Kuala Terengganu and we don’t have this type of muar chee sold here. i’ve tasted the muar chee from malacca and penang…..delicious, i love it very much. Now i can try to do it on my own. Thanks again for the recipe.

Tried making the Muar Chee using your recipe and let me friends taste the finished product. Wow, all of them gave me an A1 rating!!!

I am giving you an A1 rating too! The muar chee tasted so good and very soft!! I must also give an A1 rating to the uncle (he’s selling Bang Chang Kuih near Kimberley Street) for his grounded roasted peanuts. I was too lazy to DIY so I bought some from him to go with your superb muar chee. Marriage made in heaven I must say!!!

Hi there this looks great and I will try it. I was in Penang for a couple months 20 years ago and remember ordering from the street vendors something that resembled a small tortilla that was cooked right in front of me and then they would sprinkle on a mixture of ground peanuts and sugar then fold it and serve it. It was incredible. Would you happen to have a recipe for that as well or know what it is called so I can search it on google? Thanks for the great site and recipes… Also going to try your beef satay. Yummm